stories
Alvin Tjitrowirjo featured in Business Times: “Designing South-east Asia” as part of “Five South-east Asian designers to look out for”
Words by Helmi Yusof for Business Times | Design 7 July 2022
Indonesian-born product designer Alvin Tjitrowirjo has developed a strong reputation for being faithful to his place of origin. His furniture brand AlvinT pays tribute to the humble rattan and reimagines it in fascinating ways.
He says: “The rattan that we use is indigenous to Indonesia. We work with local and traditional weavers to pass down their traditional values and wisdom through long-lasting contemporary objects and products. We utilise traditional processes that cannot be replaced by machines or robots, thus maintaining the human connection to the material.”
AlvinT featured in Financial Times: “Rattan renaissance: why the 1970s material is cool again”
Bamboo, cane and rattan furniture, for many years relegated to the garden, is back with fresh designs and retro originals.
Words by Rory Robertson for Financial Times Interiors April 1, 2022
Jakarta-based designer Alvin Tjitrowirjo founded his furniture brand Alvin T in 2006 intending to combine Indonesia’s rich cultural heritage with a fresh artisanal approach. Rattan is core to his work, and the Malya dining chair (designed in 2008 and launched in 2009) is one of Tjitrowirjo’s most notable earlier pieces. He describes the curvaceous, bent rattan sections as “a blooming, crown-like structure”. The design epitomises the characteristics of rattan, “embracing its blemishes but exemplifying its flexibility and strength”, he says.
Alvin Tjitrowirjo featured in Damn Magazine: “Conversations on Happiness”
Interview by Earlwyn Covington for Damn Magazine 77 Winter 2020 / 2021
“There’s a lot of suppression of progressive expression – in culture, religion, and also in design – in Indonesia. People are refrained from challenging the way of things and are even afraid of the necessary changes. I’m encouraged to set an example that there are other options to living, creating work, and also running a business.”